Apparatuses for partially offloading protocol processing

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses for partially offloading processing from a user equipment (UE) to a cellular Radio Access Network (RAN) node is disclosed. An apparatus for a UE includes at least one processor configured to perform Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing and offload only a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node while maintaining TCP protocols running end-to-end between the UE and a remote host.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to partially offloading processing ofTransmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) from userequipment to a network node (e.g., to a cellular base station). Inparticular, the present disclosure relates to partially offloadingTCP/IP processing to at least one Radio Access Network (RAN) node withina wireless communication system, and related signaling.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, demand for access to fast mobile wireless data formobile electronic devices has fueled the development of the 3GPP LTEcommunication system (hereinafter “LTE system”). End users access theLTE system using mobile electronic devices (known as “user equipment” orequivalently “UE”) including appropriate electronics and software tocommunicate according to standards set forth by 3GPP.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a wireless communication system,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a user plane complete TCP/IP offloadprotocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a user plane partial TCP/IP offloadprotocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is simplified signal flow diagram illustrating signaling for aTCP/IP partial offload in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a simplified signal flow diagram illustrating signaling for ahandover in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates example components of a device in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which are shownby way of illustration specific embodiments in which the presentdisclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described insufficient detail to enable those of ordinary skill in the art topractice the disclosure made herein. It should be understood, however,that the detailed description and the specific examples, whileindicating examples of embodiments of the disclosure, are given by wayof illustration only, and not by way of limitation. From the disclosure,various substitutions, modifications, additions, rearrangements, orcombinations thereof within the scope of the disclosure may be made andwill become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

In accordance with common practice, the various features illustrated inthe drawings may not be drawn to scale. The illustrations presentedherein are not meant to be actual views of any particular apparatus(e.g., device, system, etc.) or method, but are merely idealizedrepresentations that are employed to describe various embodiments of thedisclosure. Accordingly, the dimensions of the various features may bearbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. In addition, some of thedrawings may be simplified for clarity. Thus, the drawings may notdepict all of the components of a given apparatus or all operations of aparticular method.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the description may be represented byvoltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles,optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof. Some drawingsmay illustrate signals as a single signal for clarity of presentationand description. It should be understood by a person of ordinary skillin the art that the signal may represent a bus of signals, wherein thebus may have a variety of bit widths, and the present disclosure may beimplemented on any number of data signals including a single datasignal.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, andalgorithm acts described in connection with embodiments disclosed hereinmay be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and acts are described generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orsoftware depends upon the particular application and design constraintsimposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement thedescribed functionality in varying ways for each particular application,but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the embodiments of the disclosure describedherein.

In addition, it is noted that the embodiments may be described in termsof a process that is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, astructure diagram, a signaling diagram, or a block diagram. Although aflowchart or signaling diagram may describe operational acts as asequential process, many of these acts can be performed in anothersequence, in parallel, or substantially concurrently. In addition, theorder of the acts may be rearranged. A process may correspond to amethod, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc.Furthermore, the methods disclosed herein may be implemented inhardware, software, or both. If implemented in software, the functionsmay be stored or transmitted as one or more computer-readableinstructions (e.g., software code) on a computer-readable medium.Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media (i.e.,non-transitory media) and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.

Next generation cellular radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G system)is targeted to achieve a much higher peak data rate (e.g., 10 gigabitsper second (Gbps)) than today's LTE system. However, it is generallyaccepted in the industry that 1 Hertz (Hz) of central processing unit(CPU) processing is required to send or receive 1 bit per second (bps)of TCP/IP data. For example, 5 Gbps of network traffic requires 5gigahertz (GHz) of CPU processing. This implies that two entire cores ofa 2.5 GHz multi-core processor may be used to handle the TCP/IPprocessing associated with 5 Gbps of TCP/IP traffic.

A TCP offload engine (TOE) may be used within network interface cards tooffload processing of the entire TCP/IP stack to a network controller.TOEs may be used with high-speed network interfaces, such as gigabitEthernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, where processing overhead of thenetwork stack is significant. TOE may be used with the next generationRAT cellular network interface to reduce the CPU cycles of anapplication processor (AP) of a UE. However, the use of a TOE mayincrease the CPU cycles of the communication processor (CP) within theUE, and therefore consume substantial processing resource and power fromthe UE.

The UE's processing resources and power may be conserved by offloadingpartial TCP/IP functions (e.g., checksum, etc.) from the UE to acellular base station (a Radio Access Node, such as an evolved NodeB(eNB), a next generation eNB (gNB), etc.), while keeping the TCP/IPprotocols running end-to-end (e2e) between the UE and the remote host.In one embodiment, partial offloading may be accomplished through radioresource control (RRC) messages, which allow the UE and the base stationto negotiate offloading TCP/IP functions and corresponding configurationparameters. FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 in which this partialoffload of TCP/IP functions may be implemented.

FIG. 1 illustrates an architecture of a system 100 of a network inaccordance with some embodiments. The system 100 is shown to include aUE 101 and a UE 102. The UEs 101 and 102 are illustrated as smartphones(e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to oneor more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile ornon-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs),pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or anycomputing device including a wireless communications interface.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can comprise an Internetof Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designedfor low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. AnIoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) ormachine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC serveror device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-BasedService (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications(e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate theconnections of the IoT network.

The UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicativelycouple, with a radio access network (RAN) 110. The RAN 110 may be, forexample, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), orsome other type of RAN. The UEs 101 and 102 utilize connections 103 and104, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communicationsinterface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example,the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an air interface toenable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In this embodiment, the UEs 101 and 102 may further directly exchangecommunication data via a ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising oneor more logical channels, including but not limited to a PhysicalSidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel(PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a PhysicalSidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 102 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 106via connection 107. The connection 107 can comprise a local wirelessconnection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11protocol, wherein the AP 106 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®)router. In this example, the AP 106 is shown to be connected to theInternet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system(described in further detail below).

The RAN 110 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnections 103 and 104. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to asbase stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next GenerationNodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations(e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providingcoverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 110 mayinclude one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., a macroRAN node 111, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells orpicocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power(LP) RAN node 112.

Any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can terminate the air interfaceprotocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102.In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can fulfillvarious logical functions for the RAN 110 including, but not limited to,radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearermanagement, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management anddata packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 101 and 102 can beconfigured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any ofthe RAN nodes 111 and 112 over a multicarrier communication channel inaccordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limitedto, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SingleCarrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communicationtechnique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications),although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and102, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The gridcan be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequencyresource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in eachslot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practicefor OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resourceallocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds toone OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration ofthe resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radioframe. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted asa resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resourceblocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels toresource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection ofresource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent thesmallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. Thereare several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed usingsuch resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102. The physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport formatand resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among otherthings. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 about the transportformat, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlinkscheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to theUE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 and112 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs101 and 102. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent onthe PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, eachECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network(CN) 120—via an S1 interface 113. In embodiments, the CN 120 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the S1 interface 113 issplit into two parts: an S1-U interface 114, which carries traffic databetween the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and a serving gateway (S-GW) 122, andan S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 115, which is asignaling interface between the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and MMEs 121.

In this embodiment, the CN 120 comprises the MMEs 121, the S-GW 122, aPacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123, and a home subscriberserver (HSS) 124. The MMEs 121 may be similar in function to the controlplane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) SupportNodes (SGSN). The MMEs 121 may manage mobility aspects in access such asgateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 124 maycomprise a database for network users, including subscription-relatedinformation to support the network entities' handling of communicationsessions. The CN 120 may comprise one or several HSSs 124, depending onthe number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, onthe organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 124 canprovide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization,naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 110, androute data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120. In addition, theS-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policyenforcement.

The P-GW 123 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 123may route data packets between the CN 120 (e.g., an EPC network) andexternal networks such as a network including an application server 130(alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an InternetProtocol (IP) interface 125. Generally, the application server 130 maybe an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources withthe core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS dataservices, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 123 is shown to becommunicatively coupled to the application server 130 via the IPcommunications interface 125. The application server 130 can also beconfigured to support one or more communication services (e.g.,Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, groupcommunication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs101 and 102 via the CN 120.

The P-GW 123 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. A Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 126is the policy and charging control element of the CN 120. In anon-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public LandMobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet ProtocolConnectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario withlocal breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE'sIP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF(V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 130 via theP-GW 123. The application server 130 may signal the PCRF 126 to indicatea new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS)and charging parameters. The PCRF 126 may provision this rule into aPolicy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with theappropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier(QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by theapplication server 130.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, orinclude an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory(shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software orfirmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitablehardware components that provide the described functionality. In someembodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functionsassociated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or moresoftware or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may includelogic, at least partially operable in hardware.

In some embodiments, the UE 101/102 may comprise communication devicesconfigured to communicate with at least one of the RAN nodes 111/112through connections 103/104, respectively. The UE 101/102 may furthercomprise one or more processors operably coupled to the communicationdevices and configured to perform TCP/IP processing. The one or moreprocessors may also be configured to offload only a portion of theTCP/IP processing (e.g., checksum) to the RAN node 111/112. The one ormore processors may be further configured to maintain TCP protocolsrunning e2e between the UE 101/102 and a remote host (e.g., theapplication server 130).

In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-readable storage mediumof the UE 101/102 has computer-readable instructions stored thereon. Thecomputer-readable instructions are configured to instruct one or moreprocessors within the UE 101/102 to extract a partial TCP/IP offloadcapability indication from a message received from the RAN node 111/112.The partial TCP/IP offload capability indication is configured toindicate partial offload features that the RAN node 111/112 supports.The computer-readable instructions are also configured to instruct theone or more processors to generate a partial offload request indicatingwhich of the partial TCP/IP offload features indicated by the partialTCP/IP offload capability indication are requested by the UE 101/102.The computer-readable instructions are further configured to instructthe one or more processors to decode a partial offload acknowledgment(ACK) from a message received from the RAN node 111/112. The partialoffload ACK is configured to confirm that the requested TCP/IP partialoffload features are in operation.

In some embodiments a cellular base station (e.g., the RAN node 111/112)may comprise a data storage device configured to store data indicatingsupported partial TCP/IP offload features that are supported by the basestation to enable partial offloading of TCP/IP processing from the UE101/102. The cellular base station includes one or more processorsoperably coupled to the data storage device. The one or more processorsare configured to generate a message to be transmitted to the UE. Themessage is configured to indicate the supported partial TCP/IP offloadfeatures. The processors are also configured to decode a partial TCP/IPoffload request received from the UE 101/102. The partial TCP/IP offloadrequest is configured to indicate requested TCP/IP offload features ofthe supported partial TCP/IP offload features that the UE 101/102requests to activate. The processors are further configured to activatethe requested TCP/IP offload features and generate an ACK message to betransmitted to the UE. The ACK message is configured to confirm that therequested TCP/IP offload features are activated.

In some embodiments, the UE 101/102 may partially offload TCP/IPprocessing to the RAN node 111/112. For example, the UE 101 may compriseone or more processors (e.g., an application processor, a basebandprocessor, etc.) configured to offload a portion of the TCP/IPprocessing (e.g., transmit IP checksum, transmit TCP checksum, etc.) tothe RAN node 111/112. In some embodiments the UE 101/102 may compriseprocessors configured to offload a portion of the TCP/IP processing tothe RAN node 111/112 and/or other processors within the UE 101/102,which in turn may also be configured to offload a portion of the TCP/IPprocessing delegated thereto to the RAN node 111/112. For example, theUE 101 may comprise an application processor configured to offload aportion of the TCP/IP processing to a baseband processor, which is inturn configured to offload a portion of the TCP/IP processing offloadedthereto to the RAN node 111/112.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack inaccordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane200 is shown as a communications protocol stack between a UE 801/802(similar to the UE 101/102 of FIG. 1), a RAN node 811/812 (similar tothe RAN node 111/112 of FIG. 1), and an MME 821 (similar to the MME 121of FIG. 1).

A physical (PHY) layer 201 may transmit or receive information used by aMedium Access Control (MAC) layer 202 over one or more air interfaces.The PHY layer 201 may further perform link adaptation or adaptivemodulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., forinitial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurementsused by higher layers, such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer 205.The PHY layer 201 may still further perform error detection on thetransport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding ofthe transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels,interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, andMultiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

The MAC layer 202 may perform mapping between logical channels andtransport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) fromone or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be deliveredto PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or morelogical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY viatransport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, schedulinginformation reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.

A Radio Link Control (RLC) layer 203 may operate in a plurality of modesof operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode(UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 203 may execute transferof upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction throughautomatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation,segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers.The RLC layer 203 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs forAM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers,detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs forUM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers,and perform RLC re-establishment.

A packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer 204 may execute headercompression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers(SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs atre-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layerSDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLCAM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protectionand integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-baseddiscard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering,deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

The main services and functions of the RRC layer 205 may includebroadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master InformationBlocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to thenon-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related tothe access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and releaseof an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connectionpaging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, andRRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance andrelease of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions includingkey management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, andmeasurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs andSIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may eachcomprise individual data fields or data structures.

The UE 801/802 and the RAN node 811/812 may utilize a Uu interface(e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via aprotocol stack comprising the PHY layer 201, the MAC layer 202, the RLClayer 203, the PDCP layer 204, and the RRC layer 205.

In the embodiment shown, the non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 206 formthe highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 101 and the MME821. The NAS protocols 206 support the mobility of the UE 801/802 andthe session management procedures to establish and maintain IPconnectivity between the UE 101 and the P-GW 123.

The S1 Application Protocol (S1-AP) layer 215 may support the functionsof the S1 interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is aunit of interaction between the RAN node 811/812 and the CN 120. TheS1-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services andnon UE-associated services. These services perform functions including,but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UEcapability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RANInformation Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternativelyreferred to as the stream control transmission protocol/internetprotocol (SCTP/IP) layer) 214 may ensure reliable delivery of signalingmessages between the RAN node 811/812 and the MME 821 based, in part, onthe IP protocol, supported by an IP layer 213. An L2 layer 212 and an L1layer 211 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless)used by the RAN node and the MME 821 to exchange information.

The RAN node 811/812 and the MME 821 may utilize an S1-MME interface toexchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer211, the L2 layer 212, the IP layer 213, the SCTP layer 214, and theS1-AP layer 215.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordancewith some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane 300 is shown asa communications protocol stack between the UE 801/802, the RAN node811/812, an S-GW 822 (similar to the S-GW 122 of FIG. 1), and a P-GW 823(similar to the P-GW 123 of FIG. 1). The user plane 300 may utilize atleast some of the same protocol layers as the control plane 200. Forexample, the UE 801/802 and the RAN node 811/812 may utilize a Uuinterface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via aprotocol stack comprising the PHY layer 201, the MAC layer 202, the RLClayer 203, and the PDCP layer 204.

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the userplane (GTP-U) layer 304 may be used for carrying user data within theGPRS core network and between the radio access network and the corenetwork. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6,or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP/IP) layer 303may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressingdifferent functions at the source and destination, and encryption andauthentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node 811/812 and theS-GW 822 may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via aprotocol stack comprising the L1 layer 211, the L2 layer 212, the UDP/IPlayer 303, and the GTP-U layer 304. The S-GW 822 and the P-GW 823 mayutilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocolstack comprising the L1 layer 211, the L2 layer 212, the UDP/IP layer303, and the GTP-U layer 304. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 2,NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE 101 and the sessionmanagement procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity betweenthe UE 801/802 and the P-GW 823.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a user plane complete offload protocolstack 400 in accordance with some embodiments. The stack 400 illustratesa RAN-based TCP/IP offload architecture along with correspondingair-interface enhancements to the offload TCP/IP stack completely out ofthe UE 101/102, and to a base station 111/112 (e.g., an evolved NodeB(eNB) in 4G or a next generation evolved NodeB (gNB) in 5G). The stack400 of FIG. 4 corresponds to a RAN-based complete, not partial, TCPOffload Protocol (RTOP) to enable transferring application data directlyover the cellular link without any TCP/IP processing at the UE 101/102(FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 4, the end-to-end connection is split intotwo: a TCP/IP loop 406 between base station 111/112 and remote host 412,and an RTOP loop 404 between the UE 101/102 and the base station111/112. Disclosed herein is a framework to support partially offloadingstateless TCP/IP processing from the UE 101/102 to the base station111/112 while maintaining the rest of the TCP/IP functions at the UE101/102 (e.g. TCP/IP encapsulation/decapsulation, TCP ACK processing,etc.).

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a user plane partial TCP/IP offloadprotocol stack 500 in accordance with some embodiments. In someembodiments, the RTOP loop 404 may be enhanced on the base station111/112 side to process one or more partial offload tasks. By way ofnon-limiting example, the partial offload tasks may include a transmit(Tx) IP (v4/v6) checksum, which may calculate and set the checksum fieldof the IPv4/v6 header of an out-bound (uplink) PDCP service data unit(SDU). Also by way of non-limiting example, the partial offload tasksmay include a Tx TCP checksum, which may calculate and set the checksumfield of the TCP header of an out-bound (uplink) PDCP SDU. As anothernon-limiting example, the partial offload tasks may include a Tx UserDatagram Protocol (UDP) checksum, which may calculate and set thechecksum field of the TCP header of an out-bound (uplink) PDCP SDU. Asyet another limiting example, the partial offload tasks may include areceive (Rx) IP (v4/v6) checksum, which may validate the checksum fieldof the IPv4/v6 header of an in-bound (downlink) PDCP SDU and drop it ifan error occurs. As a further, non-limiting example, the partial offloadtasks may include an Rx TCP checksum, which may validate the checksumfield of the TCP header of an in-bound (downlink) PDCP SDU and drop itif an error occurs. As yet another non-limiting example, the partialoffload tasks may include an Rx UDP checksum, which may validate thechecksum field of the UDP header of an in-bound (downlink) PDCP SDU, anddrop it if an error occurs. As yet a further non-limiting example, thepartial offload tasks may include a TCP Tx segmentation, which maysegment an uplink TCP-type PDCP SDU (e.g., IP packets) larger than theMaximum Transmission Unit (MTU) size into smaller PDCP SDUs, the size ofwhich is no more than the MTU size. As yet another non-limiting example,the partial offload tasks may include a TCP Rx concatenation, which maycombine multiple downlink TCP PDCP SDUs (IP packets) of a TCP flow intoa big TCP PDCP SDU. As another non-limiting example, the partial offloadtasks may include a TCP ACK reconstruction, which may generate a TCP ACKand send it back on the reverse path so that UE 101/102 can drop(uplink) TCP ACKs. It should be noted that both Tx segmentation and Rxconcatenation are performed separately for individual TCP flow.

FIG. 6 is a simplified signal flow diagram illustrating signaling 600for a TCP/IP partial offload 606 in accordance with some embodiments. Insome embodiments, partial offloading 616 may be accomplished byintroducing enhanced RRC signaling as a new information element in anexisting RRC message, which allows the UE 602 and the base station 604to negotiate offloading TCP/IP functions and corresponding configurationparameters. In another embodiment, partial offloading 616 may beaccomplished by introducing enhanced RRC signaling as a new RRC message,which allows the UE 602 and the RAN node (e.g., base station) 604 tonegotiate offloading TCP/IP functions and corresponding configurationparameters.

The enhanced RRC signaling 600 for a TCP/IP partial offload 616 mayinclude a RAN Node 604 generating and transmitting, to a UE 602, aPartial Offload Capability Indication massage 606, which may include aPartial Offload Capability Bitmap 608. Bits of the Partial OffloadCapability Bitmap 608 may indicate whether certain offload features aresupported by the RAN Node 604. The UE 602 may receive and process thePartial Offload Capability Indication 606. The enhanced RRC signaling600 for a TCP/IP partial offload 616 may also include the UE 602generating and transmitting, to the RAN node 604, a Partial OffloadRequest 610, which may include a Partial Offload Activation RequestBitmap 612. The Partial Offload Request 610 may request activation ofthe partial offload of one or multiple offload features that wereindicated in the Partial Offload capability Indication 606 from the RANnode 604. The RAN node 604 may receive and process the Partial OffloadRequest 610, and start the requested RAN-based TCP/IP partial offload616. The enhanced RRC signaling 600 for a TCP/IP partial offload 616 mayfurther include the RAN node 604 generating and transmitting, to the UE602, a Partial Offload ACK message 614, which confirms that therequested RAN-based TCP/IP partial offload 616 has started.

FIG. 7 is a simplified signal flow diagram 700 illustrating signalingfor a handover in accordance with some embodiments. This discussion ofFIG. 7 will focus on handover enhancements for a TCP/IP partial offload714 (including a handoff (HO) decision 712), a handover request 720, ahandover request acknowledgement (Ack) message 722, an RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message 716, and an RRC Connection ReconfigurationComplete message 718). These operations and signals may be performed bya UE 702, a source RAN node 704, and a target RAN node 706 that arespecifically pertinent to how partial offload may be handled duringhandover. FIG. 7 also illustrates an MME 708, and a serving gateway 710,although these elements are not focused on in this discussion. Also,operations and signals 724 (including measurement control message,packet data, UL allocation, measurement reports, DL allocation, SNstatus transfer, data forwarding, synchronization, UL allocation-TA forUE, path switch request, user plane update request, end marker, packetdata, end marker, user plane update response, path switch request Ack,and UE connect release) are not discussed in detail herein.

AN HO decision 712 is made (e.g., by the source RAN node 704) tohandover service of the UE 702 form the source RAN node 704 to thetarget RAN node 706. In some embodiments, one or more processors of thesource RAN node 704 may generate a handover request 720 to betransmitted to the target RAN node 706 (e.g., eNb, gNb, etc.). Thehandover request 720 may be configured to request a handover of the UE702 from the source RAN node 704 to the target RAN node 706. The targetRAN node 706 may be configured to receive the handover request 720, andtransmit a handover request acknowledgement (ACK) 722 to the source RANnode 704. The one or more processors of the source RAN node 704 may alsobe configured to decode the handover request acknowledgment message 722received from the target RAN node 706. The one or more processors of thesource RAN node 704 may also generate an RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage 716 to be transmitted to the UE 702. The RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message 716 may be configured to indicate that ahandover is pending. The one or more processors of the source RAN node704 may also be configured to deactivate the requested TCP/IP offloadfeatures in response to a transmission of the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message 716 to the UE 702.

The UE 702 may include a computer-readable storage medium (e.g.,non-transitory) having computer readable instructions stored thereon.The computer-readable instructions are configured to instruct one orprocessors of the UE 702 to decode the RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage 716 received from the source RAN node 704. The computer readableinstructions may also be configured to instruct the one or processors todeactivate the requested TCP/IP partial offload features during thehandover in response to the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message 716.

In some embodiments, the computer-readable instructions may also beconfigured to instruct the one or processors to generate an RRCConnection Reconfiguration Complete message 718 to indicate the UE 702has deactivated the TCP/IP partial offload features for the handover tothe Target RAN node 706. The computer-readable instructions may also beconfigured to instruct the one or processors to cause the RCC ConnectionReconfiguration Complete message 718 to be transmitted to the target RANnode 706. The computer-readable instructions may be further configuredto instruct the one or more processors to interact with the target RANnode 706 to activate partial TCP/IP offload to the target RAN node 706.

In some embodiments, the handover request 720 may be configured toindicate the requested TCP/IP offload features received from the UE 702,which are active at the source RAN node 704. One or more processors ofthe target RAN node 706 may decode the handover request 720 receivedfrom the source RAN node 704. The one or more processors of the targetRAN node 706 may also be configured to generate a handover request Ackmessage 722 to be transmitted to the Source base station 704. In suchembodiments, the handover request Ack message 722 may be configured toindicate target supported TCP/IP offload features that are supported bythe target RAN node 706. Also, the RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage 716 may be configured to indicate the target supported partialTCP/IP offload features. The one or more processors within the targetRAN node 706 may also be configured to decode the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration Complete message 718 received from the UE 702. The oneor more processors within the target RAN node 706 may also be configuredto activate those of the supported TCP/IP features corresponding to theactive partial TCP/IP offloading features of the UE 702. The one or moreprocessors within the target RAN node 706 may also be configured todeactivate those of the active partial TCP/IP offloading features of theUE 702 that are not supported by the target RAN node 706.

In some embodiments, handover from the source RAN node 704 to the targetRAN node 706 may merely include the UE 702 and the source RAN node 704ceasing to operate according to a partial TCP/IP offload, then the UE702 and the target RAN node 706 establishing partial TCP/IP offloadfollowing the handover.

In some embodiments, at least one of the source RAN node 704 (e.g., eNb,gNb, etc.) and the UE 702 may stop the RAN-based TCP/IP partial offloadoperation after the UE 702 receives the RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage 716 at the beginning of the handover, and the RAN-based TCP/IPpartial offload may remain inactive until the handover has concluded.After the handover, the UE 702 may exchange at least one of the PartialOffload Request 610 and the Partial Offload ACK messages 614 with thetarget RAN node 706 (e.g., eNb, gNb, etc.) to activate the RAN-basedTCP/IP partial offload.

In some embodiments, at least one of the handover enhancements maycontinue RAN-based TCP/IP partial offloading with the target RAN node706 after handover without any additional signaling. For example, thesource RAN node 704 may include the UE's 702 Partial Offload ActivationRequest Bitmap 612 in the handover request message 720. As anotherexample, the target RAN node 706 may include its Partial OffloadCapability Bitmap 608 in the handover request ACK message 722. If apartial offload feature is active at the source RAN node 704, andavailable at the target RAN node 706, the feature may be activated atthe target RAN node 706 automatically after the handover is successful.Otherwise, the feature may be deactivated after handover. As yet anotherexample, the source RAN node 704 may include the target RAN node's 706Partial Offload Capability Bitmap 608 in the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message 716. In response, if a feature is not active atthe source RAN node 704, but available at target RAN node 706, the UE702 may send the Partial Offload Request message 610 after handover orinclude the Partial Offload Activation Request Bitmap 612 in the RRCConnection Reconfiguration Complete message 718 to request the feature.

FIG. 8 illustrates example components of a device 800 in accordance withsome embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 800 may includeapplication circuitry 802, baseband circuitry 804, Radio Frequency (RF)circuitry 806, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 808, one or moreantennas 810, and power management circuitry (PMC) 812 coupled togetherat least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 800 may beincluded in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 800 mayinclude fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize applicationcircuitry 802, and instead include a processor/controller to process IPdata received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 800 mayinclude additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage,display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In otherembodiments, the components described below may be included in more thanone device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in morethan one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

The application circuitry 802 may include one or more applicationprocessors. For example, the application circuitry 802 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core ormulti-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupledwith or may include memory/storage and may be configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applicationsor operating systems to run on the device 800. In some embodiments,processors of application circuitry 802 may process IP data packetsreceived from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 804 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Thebaseband circuitry 804 may include one or more baseband processors orcontrol logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signalpath of the RF circuitry 806 and to generate baseband signals for atransmit signal path of the RF circuitry 806. Baseband processingcircuitry 804 may interface with the application circuitry 802 forgeneration and processing of the baseband signals and for controllingoperations of the RF circuitry 806. For example, in some embodiments,the baseband circuitry 804 may include a third generation (3G) basebandprocessor 804A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 804B, afifth generation (5G) baseband processor 804C, or other basebandprocessor(s) 804D for other existing generations, generations indevelopment or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation(2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 804 (e.g.,one or more of baseband processors 804A-D) may handle various radiocontrol functions that enable communication with one or more radionetworks via the RF circuitry 806. In other embodiments, some or all ofthe functionality of baseband processors 804A-D may be included inmodules stored in the memory 804G and executed via a CPU 804E. The radiocontrol functions may include, but are not limited to, signalmodulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting,etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 804 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT),precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In someembodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 804may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or LowDensity Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodimentsof modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are notlimited to these examples and may include other suitable functionalityin other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may include one or moreaudio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 804F. The audio DSP(s) 804F maybe include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellationand may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in asingle chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board insome embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituentcomponents of the baseband circuitry 804 and the application circuitry802 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on achip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 804 may supportcommunication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), or a wireless personal area network (WPAN).Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 804 is configured to supportradio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referredto as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 806 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 806 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. The RF circuitry 806 may include a receive signal path whichmay include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 808 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry804. RF circuitry 806 may also include a transmit signal path which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 804 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 808 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 806 mayinclude mixer circuitry 806A, amplifier circuitry 806B and filtercircuitry 806C. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 806 may include filter circuitry 806C and mixer circuitry806A. RF circuitry 806 may also include synthesizer circuitry 806D forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 806A of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 806A of the receive signal path may be configured todown-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 808 based on thesynthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 806D. Theamplifier circuitry 806B may be configured to amplify the down-convertedsignals and the filter circuitry 806C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) orband-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from thedown-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Outputbaseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 804 forfurther processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals maybe zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806A of the receive signal pathmay comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments isnot limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806A of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 806D togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 808. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 804 and may befiltered by the filter circuitry 806C.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 806A of the receive signal pathand the mixer circuitry 806A of the transmit signal path may include twoor more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion andupconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry806A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 806A of thetransmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arrangedfor image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 806A of the receive signal path and themixer circuitry 806A may be arranged for direct downconversion anddirect upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixercircuitry 806A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 806Aof the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyneoperation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 806 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry804 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 806.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 806D may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 806D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier,or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequencydivider.

The synthesizer circuitry 806D may be configured to synthesize an outputfrequency for use by the mixer circuitry 806A of the RF circuitry 806based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In someembodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 806D may be a fractional N/N+1synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 804 orthe application circuitry 802 (such as an applications processor)depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, adivider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up tablebased on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 802.

Synthesizer circuitry 806D of the RF circuitry 806 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 806D may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 806 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 808 may include a receive signal path which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or moreantennas 810, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 806 for furtherprocessing. The FEM circuitry 808 may also include a transmit signalpath which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 806 for transmission by one ormore of the one or more antennas 810. In various embodiments, theamplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be donesolely in the RF circuitry 806, solely in the FEM circuitry 808, or inboth the RF circuitry 806 and the FEM circuitry 808.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 808 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 808 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 808 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 806). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 808 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by the RF circuitry 806),and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequenttransmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 810).

In some embodiments, the PMC 812 may manage power provided to thebaseband circuitry 804. In particular, the PMC 812 may controlpower-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DCconversion. The PMC 812 may often be included when the device 800 iscapable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device 800is included in a UE. The PMC 812 may increase the power conversionefficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heatdissipation characteristics.

FIG. 8 shows the PMC 812 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 804.However, in other embodiments, the PMC 812 may be additionally oralternatively coupled with, and perform similar power managementoperations for, other components such as, but not limited to, theapplication circuitry 802, the RF circuitry 806, or the FEM circuitry808.

In some embodiments, the PMC 812 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the device 800. For example, if thedevice 800 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected tothe RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may entera state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period ofinactivity. During this state, the device 800 may power down for briefintervals of time and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time,then the device 800 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where itdisconnects from the network and does not perform operations such aschannel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 800 goes into a verylow power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakesup to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 800may not receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, ittransitions back to an RRC_Connected state.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable tothe network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging fromseconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totallyunreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sentduring this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay isacceptable.

Processors of the application circuitry 802 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 804 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 804, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 802 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from theselayers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmissioncommunication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers).As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control(RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein,Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio linkcontrol (RLC) layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detailbelow. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHY layer of aUE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 9 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the basebandcircuitry 804 of FIG. 8 may comprise processors 804A-804E and a memory804G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 804A-804E mayinclude a memory interface, 904A-904E, respectively, to send/receivedata to/from the memory 804G.

The baseband circuitry 804 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memoryinterface 912 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memoryexternal to the baseband circuitry 804), an application circuitryinterface 914 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from theapplication circuitry 802 of FIG. 8), an RF circuitry interface 916(e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 806 ofFIG. 8), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 918 (e.g., aninterface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC)components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi®components, and other communication components), and a power managementinterface 920 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or controlsignals to/from the PMC 812).

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 10 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1000 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory/storage devices1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1040. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1002 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000.

The processors 1010 (e.g., a central processing unit, a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit(RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) mayinclude, for example, a processor 1012 and a processor 1014.

The memory/storage devices 1020 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1020 mayinclude, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1030 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 via anetwork 1008. For example, the communication resources 1030 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components.

Instructions 1050 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1050 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1020, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1000 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1004 or the databases 1006.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1010, the memory/storage devices1020, the peripheral devices 1004, and the databases 1006 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

EXAMPLES

The following is a list of example embodiments that fall within thescope of the disclosure. In the interest of brevity and in order toavoid complexity in providing the disclosure, not all of the exampleslisted below are separately and explicitly disclosed as having beencontemplated herein as combinable with all of the others of the exampleslisted below and other embodiments disclosed hereinabove. Unless one ofordinary skill in the art would understand that these examples listedbelow, and the above disclosed embodiments, are not combinable, it iscontemplated within the scope of the disclosure that such examples andembodiments are combinable.

Example 1

An apparatus for a user equipment (UE), comprising: a baseband processorconfigured to communicate with a cellular Radio Access Network (RAN)node using a communication transceiver; and one or more processorsoperably coupled to the baseband processor and configured to: performTransmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing;offload only a portion of the TCP/IP processing to the cellular RANnode; and maintain TCP protocols running end-to-end between the UE and aremote host.

Example 2

The apparatus of Example 1, wherein the one or more processors comprisean application processor configured to perform and offload the TCP/IPprocessing.

Example 3

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1 and 2, wherein theportion of TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN nodecomprises a transmit IP checksum.

Example 4

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-3, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises atransmit TCP checksum.

Example 5

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-4, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises atransmit User Datagram Protocol (UDP) checksum.

Example 6

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-5, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises areceive IP checksum.

Example 7

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-6, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises areceive TCP checksum.

Example 8

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-7, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises areceive User Datagram Protocol (UDP) checksum.

Example 9

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-8, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises a TCPtransmit segmentation.

Example 10

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-9, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises a TCPreceive concatenation.

Example 11

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1-10, wherein the portionof TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises a TCPacknowledgement (ACK) reconstruction.

Example 12

The apparatus according to any one of Examples 1 and 3-11, wherein theone or more processors comprise an application processor, wherein theapplication processor is configured to offload the portion of the TCP/IPprocessing to the baseband processor, and the baseband processor isconfigured to offload at least some of the portion of the TCP/IPprocessing to the RAN node.

Example 13

A computer-readable storage medium of a user equipment (UE), thecomputer readable storage medium having computer-readable instructionsstored thereon, the computer readable instructions configured toinstruct one or more processors to: extract a partial TransmissionControl Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) offload capabilityindication from a message received from a Radio Access Network (RAN)node, the partial TCP/IP offload capability indication configured toindicate partial offload features that the RAN node supports; generate apartial offload request indicating which of the partial TCP/IP offloadfeatures indicated by the partial offload capability indication that arerequested by the UE; and decode a partial offload acknowledgment (ACK)from a message received from the RAN node, the partial offload ACKconfigured to confirm that the requested TCP/IP partial offload featuresare in operation.

Example 14

The computer-readable storage medium of Example 13, wherein the messagefrom which the partial TCP/IP offload capability indication is extractedcomprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message.

Example 15

The computer-readable storage medium according to any one of Examples 13and 14, wherein the partial offload features that the RAN node supportscomprise one or more partial offload features selected from the groupconsisting of a transmit IP checksum, a transmit TCP checksum, atransmit User Datagram Protocol (UDP) checksum, a receive IP checksum, areceive TCP checksum, a receive UDP checksum, a TCP transmitsegmentation, a TCP receive concatenation, and a TCP acknowledgement(ACK) reconstruction.

Example 16

The computer-readable storage medium according to any one of Examples13-15, wherein the computer readable instructions are configured to:instruct the one or more processors to decode a Radio Resource Control(RRC) Connection Reconfiguration message received from the RAN node atan initiation of a handover from the RAN node to another RAN node; anddeactivate the requested TCP/IP partial offload features during thehandover responsive to the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message.

Example 17

The computer-readable storage medium of Example 16, wherein the computerreadable instructions are configured to instruct the one or moreprocessors to: generate a Radio Resource Control (RRC) ConnectionReconfiguration Complete message configured to indicate that the UE hasdeactivated the partial offload features for the handover to the anotherRAN node; cause the RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete message tobe transmitted to the another RAN node; and interact with the anotherRAN node to activate partial TCP/IP offload to the another RAN node.

Example 18

The computer-readable storage medium according to any one of Examples13-15, wherein the computer readable instructions are further configuredto instruct the one or more processors to partially offload TCP/IPfunctions to another RAN node after a handoff from the RAN node to theanother RAN node without receiving a TCP/IP offload functionalityindication from the another RAN node.

Example 19

An apparatus of a cellular base station, comprising: a data storagedevice configured to store data indicating supported partialTransmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) offloadfeatures that are supported by the cellular base station to enablepartial offloading of TCP/IP processing from a User Equipment (UE); andone or more processors operably coupled to the data storage device andconfigured to: generate a message to be transmitted to the UE, themessage configured to indicate the supported partial TCP/IP offloadfeatures; decode a partial TCP/IP offload request received from the UE,the partial TCP/IP offload request configured to indicate requestedTCP/IP offload features of the supported partial TCP/IP offload featuresthat the UE requests to activate; activate the requested TCP/IP offloadfeatures; and generate an acknowledgement (ACK) message to betransmitted to the UE, the ACK message configured to confirm that therequested TCP/IP offload features are activated.

Example 20

The apparatus of Example 19, wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to: generate a handover request to be transmitted to a targetcellular base station that is separate from the cellular base station,the handover request configured to request a handover of the UE from thecellular base station to the target cellular base station; decode ahandover request acknowledgment received from the target cellular basestation; generate a Radio Resource Control (RRC) ConnectionReconfiguration message to be transmitted to the UE, the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message indicating that a handover is triggered; anddeactivate the requested TCP/IP offload features responsive to atransmission of the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message to the UE.

Example 21

The apparatus of Example 19, wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to: generate a handover request to be transmitted to a targetcellular base station that is separate from the cellular base station,the handover request configured to indicate the requested TCP/IP offloadfeatures received from the UE; decode a handover request acknowledgementmessage received from the target cellular base station, the handoverrequest acknowledgement message configured to indicate partial TCP/IPoffload features that are supported by the target cellular base station;generate a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Reconfigurationmessage to be transmitted to the UE, the RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage configured to indicate the partial TCP/IP offload features thatare supported by the target cellular base station; and perform ahandover of the UE to the target cellular base station.

Example 22

The apparatus of Example 19, wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to: decode a handover request received from a source cellularbase station, the handover request configured to request a handover ofanother UE to the cellular base station; generate a handover requestacknowledgement message to be transmitted to the source cellular basestation; decode a Radio Resource Control (RRC) ConnectionReconfiguration Complete message received from the another UE; andgenerate a message to be transmitted to the another UE, the messageconfigured to indicate the supported partial TCP/IP offload features.

Example 23

The apparatus of Example 19, wherein the one or more processors areconfigured to: decode a handover request received from a source cellularbase station, the handover request configured to request a handover ofanother UE to the cellular base station and indicate active partialTCP/IP offloading features of the another UE; generate a handoverrequest acknowledgement message to be transmitted to the source cellularbase station, the handover request acknowledgement message configured toindicate the supported TCP/IP features; decode a Radio Resource Control(RRC) Reconfiguration Complete message received from the another UE;activate those of the supported TCP/IP features that correspond to theactive partial TCP/IP offloading features of the another UE; anddeactivate those of the active partial TCP/IP offloading features of theanother UE that are not supported by the cellular base station.

Example 24

The apparatus of Example 23, wherein: the RRC Connection ReconfigurationComplete message is configured to indicate one or more partial TCP/IPoffload features that were not supported by the source cellular basestation, but that are supported by the target cellular base station; andthe one or more processors are configured to activate the one or more ofthe partial TCP/IP offload features indicated by the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration Complete message.

Example 25

A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:performing Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)processing; offloading only a portion of the TCP/IP processing to acellular RAN node; and maintaining TCP protocols running end-to-endbetween the UE and a remote host.

Example 26

The method of Example 25, performing TCP/IP processing includesperforming the TCP/IP processing using an application processor.

Example 27

The method according to any one of Examples 25 and 26, whereinoffloading only a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RANnode comprises offloading a transmit IP checksum to the cellular RANnode.

Example 28

The method according to any one of Examples 25-27, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a transmit TCP checksum to the cellular RAN node.

Example 29

The method according to any one of Examples 25-28, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a transmit User Datagram Protocol (UDP) checksum to thecellular RAN node.

Example 30

The method according to any one of Examples 25-29, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a receive IP checksum to the cellular RAN node.

Example 31

The method according to any one of Examples 25-30, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a receive TCP checksum to the cellular RAN node.

Example 32

The method according to any one of Examples 25-31, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a receive User Datagram Protocol (UDP) checksum to thecellular RAN node.

Example 33

The method according to any one of Examples 25-32, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a TCP transmit segmentation to the cellular RAN node.

Example 34

The method according to any one of Examples 25-33, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a TCP receive concatenation to the cellular RAN node.

Example 35

The method according to any one of Examples 25-34, wherein offloadingonly a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RAN node comprisesoffloading a TCP acknowledgement (ACK) reconstruction to the cellularRAN node.

Example 36

The method according to any one of Examples 25 and 27-35, whereinoffloading only a portion of the TCP/IP processing to a cellular RANnode comprises offloading, form an application processor, the portion ofthe TCP/IP processing to a baseband processor, and offloading at leastsome of the portion of the TCP/IP processing to the RAN node from thebaseband processor.

Example 37

A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:extracting a partial Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) offload capability indication from a message received from aRadio Access Network (RAN) node, the partial TCP/IP offload capabilityindication configured to indicate partial offload features that the RANnode supports; generating a partial offload request indicating which ofthe partial TCP/IP offload features indicated by the partial offloadcapability indication that are requested by the UE; and decoding apartial offload acknowledgment (ACK) from a message received from theRAN node, the partial offload ACK configured to confirm that therequested TCP/IP partial offload features are in operation.

Example 38

The method of Example 37, wherein extracting a partial TCP/IP offloadcapability indication from a message received from a RAN node comprisesextracting the partial TCP/IP offload capability indication from a RadioResource Control (RRC) message.

Example 39

The method according to any one of Examples 37 and 38, wherein thepartial offload features that the RAN node supports comprise one or morepartial offload features selected from the group consisting of atransmit IP checksum, a transmit TCP checksum, a transmit User DatagramProtocol (UDP) checksum, a receive IP checksum, a receive TCP checksum,a receive UDP checksum, a TCP transmit segmentation, a TCP receiveconcatenation, and a TCP acknowledgement (ACK) reconstruction.

Example 40

The method according to any one of Examples 37-39, further comprising:decoding a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connection Reconfigurationmessage received from the RAN node at an initiation of a handover fromthe RAN node to another RAN node; and deactivating the requested TCP/IPpartial offload features during the handover responsive to the RRCConnection Reconfiguration message.

Example 41

The method of Example 40, further comprising: generating a RadioResource Control (RRC) Connection Reconfiguration Complete messageconfigured to indicate that the UE has deactivated the partial offloadfeatures for the handover to the another RAN node; transmitting the RRCConnection Reconfiguration Complete message to the another RAN node; andinteracting with the another RAN node to activate partial TCP/IP offloadto the another RAN node.

Example 42

The method according to any one of Examples 37-39, wherein partiallyoffloading TCP/IP functions to another RAN node comprises partiallyoffloading the TCP/IP functions to the another RAN node after a handofffrom the RAN node to the another RAN node without receiving a TCP/IPoffload functionality indication from the another RAN node.

Example 43

A method of operating a cellular base station, the method comprising:storing data indicating supported partial Transmission Control Protocoland Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) offload features that are supported bythe cellular base station to enable partial offloading of TCP/IPprocessing from a User Equipment (UE); transmitting a message to the UE,the message configured to indicate the supported partial TCP/IP offloadfeatures; receiving a partial TCP/IP offload request from the UE, thepartial TCP/IP offload request configured to indicate requested TCP/IPoffload features of the supported partial TCP/IP offload features thatthe UE requests to activate; activating the requested TCP/IP offloadfeatures; and transmitting an acknowledgement (ACK) message to the UE,the ACK message configured to confirm that the requested TCP/IP offloadfeatures are activated.

Example 44

The method of Example 43, further comprising: transmitting a handoverrequest to a target cellular base station that is separate from thecellular base station, the handover request configured to request ahandover of the UE from the cellular base station to the target cellularbase station; receive a handover request acknowledgment from the targetcellular base station; transmitting a Radio Resource Control (RRC)Connection Reconfiguration message to the UE, the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message indicating that a handover is triggered; anddeactivating the requested TCP/IP offload features responsive to atransmission of the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message to the UE.

Example 45

The method of Example 43, further comprising: transmitting a handoverrequest to a target cellular base station that is separate from thecellular base station, the handover request configured to indicate therequested TCP/IP offload features received from the UE; receiving ahandover request acknowledgement message from the target cellular basestation, the handover request acknowledgement message configured toindicate partial TCP/IP offload features that are supported by thetarget cellular base station; transmitting a Radio Resource Control(RRC) Connection Reconfiguration message to the UE, the RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message configured to indicate the partial TCP/IPoffload features that are supported by the target cellular base station;and performing a handover of the UE to the target cellular base station.

Example 46

The method of Example 43, further comprising: receiving a handoverrequest from a source cellular base station, the handover requestconfigured to request a handover of another UE to the cellular basestation; transmitting a handover request acknowledgement message to thesource cellular base station; receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC)Connection Reconfiguration Complete message from the another UE; andtransmitting a message to the another UE, the message configured toindicate the supported partial TCP/IP offload features.

Example 47

The method of Example 43, further comprising: receiving a handoverrequest from a source cellular base station, the handover requestconfigured to request a handover of another UE to the cellular basestation and indicate active partial TCP/IP offloading features of theanother UE; transmitting a handover request acknowledgement message tothe source cellular base station, the handover request acknowledgementmessage configured to indicate the supported TCP/IP features; receivinga Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration Complete message from theanother UE; activating those of the supported TCP/IP features thatcorrespond to the active partial TCP/IP offloading features of theanother UE; and deactivating those of the active partial TCP/IPoffloading features of the another UE that are not supported by thecellular base station.

Example 48

The method of Example 47, wherein the RRC Connection ReconfigurationComplete message is configured to indicate one or more partial TCP/IPoffload features that were not supported by the source cellular basestation, but that are supported by the target cellular base station, themethod further comprising activating the one or more of the partialTCP/IP offload features indicated by the RRC Connection ReconfigurationComplete message.

Example 49

A computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructionsstored thereon, the computer readable instructions configured toinstruct one or more processors to perform at least a portion of themethod according to any one of Examples 25-48.

Example 50

A means for performing at least a portion of the method according to anyone of Examples 25-48.

While certain illustrative embodiments have been described in connectionwith the figures, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize andappreciate that embodiments encompassed by the disclosure are notlimited to those embodiments explicitly shown and described herein.Rather, many additions, deletions, and modifications to the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the scope ofembodiments encompassed by the disclosure, such as those hereinafterclaimed, including legal equivalents. In addition, features from onedisclosed embodiment may be combined with features of another disclosedembodiment while still being encompassed within the scope of embodimentsencompassed by the disclosure, as contemplated by the inventors.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE),comprising: a baseband processor configured to communicate with acellular Radio Access Network (RAN) node using a communicationtransceiver; and one or more processors operably coupled to the basebandprocessor and configured to: perform a first portion of TransmissionControl Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing; send, to thecellular RAN node, a request that the cellular RAN node perform a secondportion of the TCP/IP processing, the request comprising a partialoffload activation request bitmap indicating the second portion of theTCP/IP processing; offload the second portion of the TCP/IP processingto the cellular RAN node; and maintain TCP protocols running end-to-endbetween the UE and a remote host.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe one or more processors comprise an application processor configuredto perform the first portion of the TCP/IP processing and offload thesecond portion of the TCP/IP processing.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the second portion of TCP/IP processing to offload to thecellular RAN node comprises a transmit IP checksum.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the second portion of TCP/IP processing to offload tothe cellular RAN node comprises a transmit TCP checksum.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the second portion of TCP/IP processing tooffload to the cellular RAN node comprises a transmit User DatagramProtocol (UDP) checksum.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the secondportion of TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN nodecomprises a receive IP checksum.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe second portion of TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RANnode comprises a receive TCP checksum.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the second portion of TCP/IP processing to offload to thecellular RAN node comprises a receive User Datagram Protocol (UDP)checksum.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second portion ofTCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN node comprises a TCPtransmit segmentation.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the secondportion of TCP/IP processing to offload to the cellular RAN nodecomprises a TCP receive concatenation.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the second portion of TCP/IP processing to offload to thecellular RAN node comprises a TCP acknowledgement (ACK) reconstruction.12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processorscomprise an application processor, wherein the application processor isconfigured to offload the second portion of the TCP/IP processing to thebaseband processor, and the baseband processor is configured to offloadthe second portion of the TCP/IP processing to the RAN node.